Staging
A staging site is a complete copy of your live site - files, database, plugins, themes and settings - running on its own address. Update a plugin, try a new theme, or rebuild a page where nobody can see it, then push it across when you're happy.
Open your site → Staging.
Staging is part of your plan
Whether staging is available, and how many days each copy lasts, is set by your plan. If your plan doesn't include it, the Staging page says so and links to the plans page.
Creating a staging site
Click Create staging site. MagicWP copies the whole site to a new address and emails you when it's ready - usually a few minutes, longer for large sites.
A few things worth knowing before you start:
- A site can have one staging copy at a time.
- It doesn't use one of your site slots. It has its own disk allowance, which counts towards your account storage.
- Your live site keeps running throughout and isn't changed until you push.
Don't edit your live site while the copy runs
The copy is a snapshot taken when you click the button. Anything you change on the live site before the ready email arrives will not be in it - and will be overwritten if you later push.
What's different on staging
Two things behave differently on purpose:
- WordPress email is blocked. A staging site holds a copy of your real
users, so without this a test order or password reset would email your actual
customers. Plugins that send over their own SMTP connection can still get out
- disable those before testing.
- Search engines are told not to index it, so it never competes with your live site in results.
Staging sites also have a reduced menu. Domains, Email, Backups and Analytics belong to the live site, and Redirects and Security are stack-level settings that a push doesn't carry - so they aren't offered on the copy.
Pushing to live
When the copy is ready to go live, open Staging on the live site and click Push to Live.
Read the confirmation carefully, because a push is a replacement, not a merge:
- Files and the database are both replaced, wholesale.
- Anything your live site has recorded since the copy is lost - orders, comments, form entries, new customer accounts, and password changes made by people who already had accounts.
You'll be asked to type the domain to confirm. While the push runs, your live site shows a maintenance page; it comes back automatically when the push finishes.
Ecommerce and membership sites
If your site takes orders or signups, a push will discard everything it took while you were working on staging. Plan the push for a quiet moment, or copy the new orders across by hand afterwards.
Undoing a push
A full backup of your live site is taken automatically before every push. It's listed on the Backups page as Before push, and you can restore it from the Staging page under Undo a push.
These backups are kept for a few days, so undo soon after the push rather than weeks later. Restoring one has the mirror problem of pushing: anything your live site recorded since the push goes with it.
After a push
The staging site is not deleted when you push. It stays exactly as it is and its clock keeps running, so you can keep working and push again.
Expiry and extending
Every staging site is deleted automatically when its time is up. This is what keeps staging from quietly costing you disk and money for a copy you finished with months ago.
- The Staging page shows a live countdown.
- You get an email before it expires, with a link to extend.
- Extend appears in the final day. Each extension adds another full period, and there's a limit on how many times a copy can be extended.
- You can delete a staging site yourself at any time - the live site isn't affected.
A push in progress is never interrupted
If a staging site reaches its expiry while a push is running, the deletion waits. It's removed after the push finishes.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Create staging site is missing or disabled | Your plan doesn't include staging, or one already exists | Check your plan; delete the existing copy first |
| Changes I made to the live site aren't on staging | They were made after the copy started | Redo them on staging, or delete the copy and create a fresh one |
| Test emails aren't arriving on staging | Email is blocked there deliberately | Use a mail-logging plugin to inspect what would have been sent |
| Push to Live is disabled near expiry | A push is not started with less than an hour left | Extend the staging site, then push |
| Something is missing after a push | It was added to the live site after the copy | Restore the Before push backup, then redo the work |
| Staging disappeared | Its time ran out and it was deleted automatically | Create a new one; the live site is unaffected |